Creative Coast Preschoolers visit Pine Island Elementary
Last Tuesday morning, 15 children from Creative Coast Preschool visited Pine Island Elementary School for “swap day.”
“Today we are doing our ‘swap day,'” PIE Kindergarten teacher Kathy Frahm said. “Our Kindergarteners at Pine Island Elementary are going to the first grade classroom and the first graders are going to the second grade classrooms. For the last four years we have invited the children from Creative Coast Preschool to bring over their pre-K children to see what Kindergarten is like at Pine Island Elementary. The children here today are the Creative Coast graduates and will be our Kindergarten class in September.”
Creative Coast Preschool opened 8 years ago as the first and only licensed childcare facility with Voluntary Pre-kindergarten (VPK) on Pine Island. Before Creative Coast opened, parents that wanted their children to attend a VPK program had to drive off the island. Creative Coast focuses on early childhood curriculum to help children become enthusiastic learners. The most important growth and development in the brain happens by the age of 5. The goal at Creative Coast is to help children become independent, self-confident, inquisitive learners.
“Jennifer Cann teaches third grade here at Pine Island Elementary and she set this up,” Frahm said. “I act as liaison between PIE and Creative Coast. I’ve always gone over to Creative Coast to do a pre-screening and to get to know the children. This allows the children to get to know us and for us to get to know them.
Frahm praised the Creative Coast staff for its work in preparing the children for school.
“Creative Coast does a wonderful job of teaching the children their letters, their sounds and their numbers,” Frahm said. “The children are very well prepared for our curriculum when they get here and start kindergarten. Creative Coast teaches them to work in small groups, how to sit and listen and how to work with a teacher or other instructor.
“The ‘swap day’ program is a real benefit for the children,” Frahm said. “They get to see the classroom, they go to the cafeteria, they visit the library and our Principal Mr. Mazzoli comes in to talk to them. It’s a great way to get the first day over with in a safe way and we do it as a field trip so it’s fun for the children.”
Besides its preschool programs, Creative Coast offers additional opportunities.
“Creative Coast also offers a Summer Program for school-age children,” Creative Coast Director Maria Ramirez said. “We also have a review of everything we did with the younger kids. Our Summer Camp program offers children lots of wonderful activities all summer long. For $75 per week, summer campers enjoy three field trips per week, arts, crafts, games, water play, swimming and many other fun summer activities. Some field trips are free and others are at very low cost.”
Parents can enroll their children now for our summer camp by contacting Creative Coast Preschool at 283-3423.